Icons of the Sport of Darts

When it comes to darts, most countries have their champions; some, but not many, win the ultimate prize, the World Darts Championship.

For many years, there was only one World Championship managed by the British Darts Organisation (BDO), but due to the downturn of TV coverage, a group of the top sixteen players formed a new organisation called World Darts Council (WDC) in 1992, known these days as the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Initially, these players still played in some of the BDO events but tried to promote the WDC on their shirts, which was met with a disagreement between the BDO and the players. However, the move became decisive, and the WDC / PDC would come to outshine the BDO.

In 1994, the first WDC (PDC) World Championship was held, with the winner, Dennis Priestley, beating Phil Taylor 6-1. Priestley had previously won the BDO version in 1991 and became the first player to win both world championship titles. In the same year, a young Canadian, John Part, took the BDO World title, beating Bobby George 6-0. Bobby had broken his back at the time because of a celebratory jump in an earlier match, but he was determined to play. He came to the oche, strapped up, and played against the doctors' advice.

John Part's win gave darts a boost in Canada. However, the odds would have been in his favour due to Bobby's injury. The sport of darts in Canada took off, with many backing John to win more, and he would win more world titles in the PDC.

John joined the PDC in June 1997 and won two further World titles on the PDC circuit. He beat Phil Taylor in 2023 at the height of Phil's career and then regained the title at London's famous Ally Pally in 2008 against Kirk Sheppard, who was a ranked outsider. For the latest darts betting and sports odds, have a look at bc sports betting, where you will also find some introductory offers.

Like all players, John has his own nickname and walk-on music. A play of the Canadian Maple Leaf, John is known as the 'Darth Maple' and walks onto 'the Imperial March' (Darth Vadar's Theme). Dart songs are not new and certainly date back to 1937 when the two Leslies published a song 'Let’s Have a Jolly Old Game of Darts’. Chas and Dave also liked their darts, and a modern version of a dart theme by Bert The Barracuda is now hitting the online viewing charts.

 

Let’s Play Darts!

 

Darts Renaissance

Today, darts are experiencing yet another renaissance and a new younger generation is pushing the old guard aside. Icons of the sport, such as Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, and Gary Anderson, are losing out to Luke Litter and the newly crowned PDC World Champion Luke Humphries. But there is still a lot to play for the champions of the past in the World Senior Darts Tour (WSDT).

For the past few years, the WSDT tour has brought past world champions together and players of the age of fifty in a new dart tournament. Phil Taylor, Keith Deller, Kevin Painter, and Trina Gulliver have all graced the oche in new WSDT TV events.

 

Brewers put Dartboards back into pubs.

As reported in the Times Newspaper, in the 1980s, public houses removed a lot of game rooms and dartboards, and now, they realise the impact the sport is having on a younger generation and are rapidly putting them back.

TV has also seen an upsurge in viewing figures, and according to PDC Chairman Eddie Hearn, darts is the second-most-watched sport on Sky TV and its development and expanding World Coverage is not only good for the players, fans and pundits but also allows for an increasing amount of sponsors to enter into this growing sport.